The present invention relates to fruit juice-containing products and, in particular, to a method for eliminating or minimizing the separation of solids in such products.
Fruit juice-containing products, i.e., aqueous-based beverages or preparations containing fruit juice (as well as concentrates from which such beverages or products may be prepared), are well-known in the art and have achieved a relatively high degree of commercial acceptance. A known difficulty with such products, however, is the separation of the fruit juice solids (e.g., pulp) in the product, that is, the difficulty in maintaining the fruit juice solids in suspension or dispersion in the beverage or preparation over a prolonged period of time. As a result, at the time of purchase and consumption of the product, the fruit juice solids often will have either settled toward the bottom of the container or floated toward the surface, depending upon the relative densities of the solids and the liquid product. In either event, the product thus is non-uniform in composition throughout the container.
Although agitation of the fruit juice-containing product in its container prior to use generally will provide the requisite uniform drink or preparation, many consumers either forget to take this measure or find it cumbersome or difficult to do so, particularly where the product, e.g., beverage, is packaged for purchase in a large volume container such that product will be poured therefrom on a periodic basis, i.e., after being re-stored for a time sufficient to result in re-separation of solids. In addition, for certain fruit juice-containing products, once the fruit juice solids have separated it is difficult to reinstate the desired suspension, even with agitation, owing either to the nature of the solids per se or some interaction (e.g., agglomeration) between separated particles which alters their solubility or dispersibility in the product.
Fruit juice-containing products packaged in transparent, e.g., glass or plastic, containers present an added difficulty with respect to the aesthetically undesirable visible presence of solids at the bottom or top thereof at the time of purchase by the consumer.
Prior art attempts at overcoming these difficulties typically make use of natural or synthetic additive materials as stabilizers in an effort to maintain the juice solids in suspension. Most such additive systems proposed simply are ineffective for this purpose, particularly in highly acidic products having a pH of about 3.0 or less. Moreover, the additives proposed often rely per se on their ability to increase the viscosity of the product in order to more effectively maintain the solids in suspension, or contribute this property incident to their stabilizing function. As a result, the final product is undesirably thickened and often exhibits an undesirable mouthfeel. Still further, known additives typically generate difficulties in the juice product manufacturing process. For example, many such additives require elaborate and expensive mixing procedures to effect their dissolution in the product. In certain cases, stabilizer additives require some form of heat processing to bring about their activation for this purpose. However, such heat processing may be inconsistent or incompatible with the processing necessary or desired for preparing the juice-containing product per se.